Hey guys, Bubbles here. I JUST finished a skype call with dagnor (seriously, i had this page open as we were exiting the call), and we talked a lot about future plans. We have a LOT of ideas and changes on the way, some bigger than others. As things get closer, I'll shed some light on them, but for now I just wanted to give y'all some insight on our first priorities.

While there are a lot of improvements we could make to the game itself, we feel like the first priority of improvements is to make the game more accessible. So, out of a giant list of topics, we set 4 of them as our priorities and will be working on them now.

Firstly, we are working on a friends list, accessed via the chat button (which may or may not change to the Communications button). You'll be able to add people to your list and see when they're online, available for play, etc. Finally no need to message someone and cross your fingers that they aren't busy!

Right after that, we will be dishing out a Notifications system. We want to keep it simple, so it will be a small button in the menus that simply shows text notifications, such as when a friend goes online/offline, wins/loses a game, getting an invite (more on that below), etc. You will be able to set WHAT you get a notification for in the options menu. When in matches, instead of a notifications window, the text messages will just be displayed in your chat window (in a unique color of course)

Next up, we will be implementing an Invite system, via the friends list. Whether you want to play a private game with your friend, do some co-ops together, get them into your tournament lobby, or whatever, now things should be a lot easier

And lastly, we are working on custom parties/chatrooms. This should also help players communicate and play the game better and easier.

As i mentioned, we have a LOT more than this in store, but these are the first 4 things (in that order, by the way) that we are working on. Like these ideas? Have any suggestions for the game? Have any suggestions for these topics? Let me know here

_________________Living goes by fast, catch your breath and it'll pass you by. And it won't last to sulk in the memories you hold.

A lot of this sounds great, it will be a nice improvement to the basic chat functionality that is within the game currently. I really like that if someone messages you while you are in a game that it will just show up in the normal chat window - will you be able to right click and just "whisper" that person back? Perhaps right clicking a name will bring up several options such as whisper, invite, or view stats (I miss this feature from old v1).

All in all I think making it easier for players to find games/make friends/build a community is exactly what battledex needs, so I am very happy to hear that the devs are putting effort into these functions. Keep up the good work!

I would IMAGINE that if a player messages you in a match.. well actually im not sure. There's 2 possibilities really:1) the current method. It brings you into a chat room2) like most games, it just shows in the normal chat area and you /w "name" or /r to whisper/reply. Im not sure which is better and this wasn't one of the finer details we discussed yet, so idk

Also, rest assured that we're looking into a lot of additions to the menus, new sections, new features, vastly improving things (such as certain things currently only accessible from the website but later being accessible in-game), etc. But we agreed that the stuff mentioned in the OP is definitely first priority. So while Dagnor is coding it into place for me to test, I'm designing the layout for the updates that will (most likely -- dont quote me here) come after the 4 things mentioned above. Then when he's done we're going to TEST patches before releasing them. I don't know why we stopped for a while but this last patch was such a wakeup call for that, so now I will personally be testing every patch before it goes out

If you have any suggestions/requests/details on the 4 things in the OP, feel free to suggest them I check these forums all day every day and read every post!

_________________Living goes by fast, catch your breath and it'll pass you by. And it won't last to sulk in the memories you hold.

I really like your ideas. Quality chat/communication/notification interfaces can sometimes be overlooked but are very important.

One thing I highly recommend in the notification department is a notification when ANY player is searching for game (additionally, this notification should be specific, and inform you as to whether they are searching for standard matchmaking or co-op).

When you search, if you realize that other players are being notified, it will encourage you to wait longer. Also, somebody who is playing the campaign or watching a replay has the opportunity to leave what they are doing and go enter matchmaking when they see the notification.

Without this, you simply have to hope that somebody else is searching at the same time as you - something that is highly frustrating, especially with a low population. With this, you know when someone else is searching and others know when you are searching so you can easily match-up.

While I agree that it's a good addition for the current state of the game, we're trying to gear everything toward being able to work for 5 people in the client or 500,000. After the 4 things above are added I'll mention this to dagnor and see what he says (it should be a quick/easy addition) about adding it until we're done with beta. THAT DAY WILL SURELY COME. We're making some real progress finally

_________________Living goes by fast, catch your breath and it'll pass you by. And it won't last to sulk in the memories you hold.

Actually, I had a thought with regard to an even more important update: Get co-op working again. When I chat with the non-regulars they generally want to play co-op as opposed to getting destroyed by me in 1-vs-1. Even us veterans still have co-op missions to finish and it is a nice variant to playing competitively all the time.

We really need to be able to set up private co-op games also. I'm not saying that "matchmaking co-op" needs to be removed, but there absolutely needs to be a way to set up a private co-op game.

Realistically, I'm not getting my monthly subscription value (nor is anyone else) with co-op being down for so long.

Actually, I had a thought with regard to an even more important update: Get co-op working again. When I chat with the non-regulars they generally want to play co-op as opposed to getting destroyed by me in 1-vs-1. Even us veterans still have co-op missions to finish and it is a nice variant to playing competitively all the time.

We really need to be able to set up private co-op games also. I'm not saying that "matchmaking co-op" needs to be removed, but there absolutely needs to be a way to set up a private co-op game.

Realistically, I'm not getting my monthly subscription value (nor is anyone else) with co-op being down for so long.

This was a huge priority on our list, and similar situations, which is why we are working on those updates. All 4 updates above will contribute to this issue. For example, hit up your online friends and see if they wanna play. If so, invite em to the party and just play as a party. Dagnor's hard at work coding the friends list atm so it's on the way!

_________________Living goes by fast, catch your breath and it'll pass you by. And it won't last to sulk in the memories you hold.

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